Toxic Heavy Metals in Sediments of Mahul Creek near Mumbai, India

Abstract

The present study was performed for the period of one year from January 2013 to December 2013 in order to understand the level of toxic heavy metals in the sediments of Mahul Creek near Mumbai. The annual average concentration of heavy metals like Cr, Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, As and Hg was found to be 277. 5, 121.7, 100.3, 63.8, 21.5, 14.6, 10.4 and 4.9 ppm respectively. It is feared that this heavy metals accumulated in the creek sediments may enter the water thereby creating threat to the biological life of an aquatic ecosystem. The results of present study indicates that the existing situation if mishandled can cause irreparable ecological harm in the long term well masked by short term economic prosperity due to extensive industrial growth.

Studies on Toxic Heavy Metals in Sediment Ecosystem of Mahim Creek near Mumbai, India

“…The mangrove forests are important because of their role in harbouring a variety of biotic communities, protecting the coastal areas from cyclonic storms and functioning as lungs in the case of Mumbai. The increase in number of contaminated sediment sites around the world has resulted in increasing awareness that sediments act as a major pollution reservoir [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], which has further prompted us to investigate pollution load due to accumulation of toxic heavy metals in sediments of Mahim Creek. It is well known that the sediment strata serve as an important habitat for the benthic macro invertebrates whose metabolic activities contribute to aquatic productivity [20].…”